Our post-9/11 madness has been with us for a long time in our anti-democractic and un-Constitutional wartime practices. Consider this story from World War 2. My great-grandfather Takaichi (TR) Saiki was born in Hiroshima in 1887, and move to the Republic of Hawai’i with his parents in 1894 at age 7. They were there when the USA annexed the place in 1898. But unlike haoles (Anglos), they did not automatically become citizens as Japanese were not granted – were ineligible for – citizenship. TR’s Anglo-Hawaiian wife was there in 1898 and got citizenship. Their eight children did also, being born after 1908. But not TR. He was living in Hilo, Hawaii when he was arrested on December 7, 1941, having been identified months ahead of time for, uh, ‘custodial detention’: treatment as a POW for the duration of the war, including stays at Camp Livingston, LA; Ft. Missoula, MT, and Santa Fe, NM.
I just received 110 pages from the National Archives on Friday November 15 documenting his saga, including a complete transcript of his ‘trial’. A brief chronicle:
6/14/1941: Six months before Pearl Harbor, FBI letter from J. Edgar Hoover to LMC Smith – Chief, Special Defense Unit: “It is recommended that this individual be considered for custodial detention in the event of a national emergency. The information contained on the attached dossier [4 add’l pages] constitutes the basis for appropriate consideration in this regard.”
11/12/1941 FBI report : Character of case: registration act. Agent report 7/18/1941 - “…Came to Hawaii with parents on 10/28/1894, arriving at Honolulu aboard the SS Nanchung, a British vessel. First appointed a consular agent about 20 years ago and has been one since… evidence to indicate they are ‘officials’ of Japanese government very meager… Saiki is influential among Japanese in Hilo and vicinity, and on the surface does such things as ostentatiously buying and selling US defense bonds, but in private conversation shows extreme Nationalism and sympathy for Japan and against the United States. No criminal or credit record.” That’s the summary. There are 15 pages of details, including references to observations by Confidential Informant HO-191.
8/18/1941: DoJ INS: abstract of consolidated file: 5’3”, 112# as of 12/9/1940; member of Chamber of Commerce of Hilo; Hilo Japanese Association; Hawaiishima Dobogo Kenno Kiseikai (dissolved 1939). Permits to reenter US 7/31/1930; 2/8/1935; 8/6/1940. Last return to US on 5/23/1941 on Tatutu Maru.
2/2/1942, FBI report, discussing a 2600th Anniversary of the Founding of Japan” commemorative cup he got from Yosuke Matsuoka, junior grade of the Third Court rank, Minister of Foreign Affairs. A letter with it “commended him for his distinguished service towards overseas expansion of the Japanese race.”
8/9/1942 FBI: Military governor ordered Saiki interned on 3/9/1942 [He’s been held on Sand Island, off Oahu, since his arrest on Dec 7]
11/23/1942: Camp Livingston, LA - petition for reuniting family in family internment center
3/16/1943: Report from Camp Livingston, LA on his attitude: no unfavorable; one favorable check for trends of physical and mental condition; two checks for character of associates; three checks for general attitude and cooperativeness with Camp authorities.
5/29/1943: FBI memo, signed by J Edgar Hoover, asking Assistant Attorney General Wendell Berge “whether the evidence developed to date is sufficient to justify prosecution of the subject and whether such prosecution will be authorized.”
6/14/1943: DOJ says “the subject was… a so-called ‘consular agent’ in Hawaii and engaged in functions commonly performed by a notary public. The facts in this case are not sufficient to warrant prosecution particularly in view of the fact that the War Department opposed proceeding against so-called ‘consular agents’ and since the subject is now interned by the military authorities for the duration of the war.”
7/26/1943 report: 6/5/1943 at Ft. Missoula (Army Camp Livingston, LA 5/30/1942)
10/6/1943: does not desire repatriation
5/6/1944: info on internees – list of family (wife & kids: ages, city/state). Desire parole only if permitted to return to Hawaii;
4/6/1944: moved from Ft. Missoula to Santa Fe
10/16/1945: Repatriation application, listing birth info (2/28/1887 in Higashi-hakushima, Hiroshima, Japan), job, address, and text “I DO NOT DESIRE REPATRIATION TO JAPAN”
“He has never renounced US Citizenship” – he had never been permitted US citizenship
"I desire nonrepatriation for the reasons that I have lived in Hawaii for most of my life, about 50 years, and I have family there, therefore I would like to join my family in Hawaii. My loyalty definitely lies with the USA which is my family’s native country. I have American born wife and eight American born children.”
10/30/45 INS Report of Alien Enemy: left Santa Fe
11/6/1945 INS Report of Alien Enemy: arrived in Seattle 11/2 En Route to Hawaii
11/21/1945 INS Report of Alien Enemy: arrived at Honolulu via USAT “YARMOUTH” 11/7, verified by UNIANS and discharged.
He lists his mother as his nearest relative living in Japan until the last report, which means that she was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
TR did have excellent legal representation for his hearing: Harry Irwin, former territorial Attorney General (1918-22), who filed a brief. It says, in part, that "The due process clause of the constitution, the constitutional right to be informed of the charges against him, the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him, the right to cross-examine those witnesses, and, apparently, the presumption of innocence have, apparently, been repealed by the declaration of war." - January 12, 1942. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Mon Nov 18, 2013 at 2:54 PM PT: Thank you for the community spotlight! Lifting a comment of mine to the main doc, Hawai'i was different from the West Coast.
Rounding up everyone in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry was impractical: it was about half the population. Also, the general in charge there was against it, unlike the west coast commander. So the 'compromise' with DC involved interning a few on Oahu, and rounding up 1,100 high profile other Issei and Nisei, including a few US citizens, and treating them like POWs. Hence they were not in War Relocation Authority camps with most of the interned, but DoJ camps with Japanese, German, and Italian POWs.
Saiki's case was classified as a 1938 Foreign Agent Registration Act case, for his consul role. As the case notes make clear, applying it to consuls like Saiki was overreach, and the War Dept was against it. There were only 28 successful cases brought during the entire war, of high profile propagandists.
In addition to obvious constitutional violations, in the hearing much is made of his private pro-Japan comments - which A) were about a friendly nation at the time they were made but criminalized ex post facto; B) were made by a citizen of Japan, not America, and so were entirely appropriate. This was made worse by the irony of him being explicitly denied American citizenship despite having lived there longer than America had ruled the place.
Mon Nov 18, 2013 at 9:07 PM PT: A friend of mine who teaches law says, "to the extent that I get into this deplorable chapter in our history, I teach two cases. The first, Korematsu v. United States, resulted in the Supreme Court upholding the detentions on the West Coast, citing "national security" as a compelling government interest that supported the infringements on all of the rights Saiki's lawyer listed. The second, Hirabayashi v. United States, involved violation of the curfews that preceded the setting up of what can only be called concentration camps on the West Coast, and Mr. Hirabayashi lost that case on similar grounds and was promptly sent to one of the camps. Today, both of these decisions are considered part of what we call the "anti-canon" of constitutional law, which also includes such "gems" as Plessy v. Furgusen and Dred Scott v. Sandford."
Sun May 18, 2014 at 11:00 AM PT: I've transcribed Irwin' complete legal brief here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...